Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
Brian Etheridge (Producer, D3Publisher of America, Inc.), February 23, 2009

What is the story behind Eat Lead?

Eat Lead is an epic chapter in the life of the greatest video game hero you’ve never heard of; Matt Hazard. The back story to this game is that Matt is THE video game hero from the 80’s. He’d gone from 8-bit all the way to 3D, but then his career hit a slump when he tried to diversify his portfolio by making games like “Haz-Matt Karts” and “Soak’Em” (a non-violent 3rd person shooter based on water guns). His publishing company takes a dive, but a mysterious new owner comes along to resurrect the company and offers Matt a shot at a comeback.

The player assumes the role of Matt Hazard and he starts up this new “Next-Gen” game. Through the course of the game, you come to find out that someone is trying to take Matt out and it’s up to him and his programmer babe sidekick, QA, to make it through to the last level.

It’s also the story of the inner meaning of life and we actually go so far as to answer the questions “what is the sound of one hand clapping?” and “Is there a god?

Obviously there are Doom and Duke Nukem influences, but what other characters/series did Eat Lead draw inspiration from?

We aren’t really looking to tag any specific games, which is something that a lot of people assume. We’re really looking at whole genres of games. The fact that you can immediately target certain games seems to just validate what we’re pointing out; some aspects of gaming have become cliché.

That being said, there are some genres that are rife with clichés; shooters in general, Japanese RPGs, anything that was made with only 8-bits, any game title that ends with the word “carts”, and any game with space marines. 

Were there any instances where you needed to scale back the similarities of characters or scenarios to avoid potential issues?

Not as many as you might think. We were very careful with how we handled our character creation and even how Matt Hazard got his name. In the beginning he had a totally different name, which in my opinion wasn’t as funny. After some discussions where we decided it was too close to another prominent game character,  so we brainstormed with Vicious Cycle for new names. We all really liked “Matt Hazard” and when we said, “Haha… that’s funny, like Haz-Mat,” they didn’t even realize the pun they had made. From that point, we just found that there were a lot of great pseudo game names we could make with “Hazard” in the name, so it stuck. Haz-Matt Carts, Death Hazard, Choking Hazard… the list continues to grow like the hair on that dead guy at the end of the last REAL Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade.

Was there ever a time where the game was a different genre, such as a first person shooter of more of a platformer?

No, Matt started out as a 3rd person shooter kind of guy and stayed that way until the end. 

Are there plans for Matt beyond Eat Lead?

Yes! We just announced a downloadable title that will be coming out this summer to Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Store. The game goes back to Matt’s classic roots and the beginning of his career. Beyond, I am not at liberty to say, but if I ran the entire video game industry, every game would be a Matt Hazard game. Gaming would just be funnier if that was the case.

Are there plans to bring Matt Hazard to the Wii or DS in any form?

Not at this time, but if we did, I’m sure we would need to talk to Nintendo about adding an extra large shoulder pad to every Mii that Matt comes in contact with. And I’m sure Matt would like to experiment with a game where you can touch ANYTHING with the stylus… that’s worth investigating.

Are there any unlockable items or costumes?

Yes, there’s an entire difficulty mode that’s unlockable, but you will need some serious cojones to beat Maximum Hazard Mode. Tell you what, if you can pull it off, give me a call at 310-555-1234 and we’ll do lunch. I will bring an icepack  for your thumbs which will most likely still be swollen and I’ll spoon feed you since you won’t be able to pick anything up for a few days.. Maximum Hazard Mode is brutal.

What is your favorite Achievement/Trophy?

That is a really tough question. I will say that “Say NO to pots” is my fave. This is one that you get when you’ve shot all of the potted plants in the game, which can be pretty tough to find. My least favorite is “Observe Grenade.” You get this when you kill 3 video game testers with a single grenade. I used to be a tester!

Besides Eat Lead, what is your favorite Matt Hazard game?

Again, a really tough one… did you go to the “tough interview questions” book to pick these? If so, you must have got these from the Tough Matt Hazard Video Game Interview Questions chapter.

Man, I hate that author!

My favorite old Matt Hazard game is definitely Matt Hazard and the Death Knights of Caesar. My love for both medieval knights and Roman history makes this a treasured piece in my vast collection of Matt Hazard titles. I still can’t figure out how a Roman Emperor managed to get medieval knights from the future, but you know what, those Romans invented everything… even the orgy… or was that the Greeks?

_________________________________________________________

Eat Lead comes out next week for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. We'd like to thank Brian Etheridge for his time, and remind everyone to check back next week for our review of The Return of Matt Hazard. Brian, expect a phone call, I'm after that free lunch.

Related Articles:

Wipeout HD Screens, Interview

Ask Telltale About Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People

PAX07: Telltale Interview!